A Thanksgiving of Firsts: Tara's Urban Family Dinner

2005 was a year of many firsts. I had my first full-time job, my first apartment, and my first Thanksgiving away from my family. Luckily, I was living with my best friends, and with all of us too poor or lacking the time off to head home for the holiday, we became our own urban family and cooked our first holiday dinner together.

It was a smallish affair, but a festive one. As a group, we were food lovers and active home cooks, and agreed we wanted all the traditional elements, but took the opportunity to explore beyond the basics and do more elaborate versions of our families' classics. No one had ever cooked a turkey before, yet we rubbed it with sage butter and maple syrup, and, thanks to Tyler Florence's expertise, it was delicious. We toasted our first grown-up Thanksgiving with some bubbly, and ate our hard work with gusto.

For your first Thanksgiving, did you stick with tradition or strike out on your own? Share in the comments!